


deck the halls

by milkdaze (flowerstems)



Series: jingle bell swing [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 10:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5536130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerstems/pseuds/milkdaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course it’s noisy, that’s the side effect of cramming a too-small room full of too-big personalities. Joe’s house has always been quaint, but this Christmas it’s full of fiery journalists, dedicated officers, a fierce lawyer, a sharp CEO, a witty club owner, a persistent doctor, a handful of scientists, and more vigilantes than any one city really asked for (compliments of the non-existent justice system). What a mouthful.</p><p>So, naturally, the house is a roaring mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	deck the halls

**Author's Note:**

> lmao imagine team arrow & team flash getting together for Christmas. ch a os.  
> at first i had no clue what to write, but then Christmas happened and even my most stressed relatives became silly and all too happy to celebrate. so. have some silly vigilantes à la homo barriver/olivarry/whatever the cool kids wanna call it.

It’s too much to ask for Christmas to be quiet.

Of course it’s noisy, that’s the side effect of cramming a too-small room full of too-big personalities. Joe’s house has always been quaint, but this Christmas it’s full of fiery journalists, dedicated officers, a fierce lawyer, a sharp CEO, a witty club owner, a persistent doctor, a handful of scientists, and more vigilantes than any one city really asked for (compliments of the non-existent justice system). What a mouthful.

So, naturally, the house is a roaring mess. It’s a lit up, eggnog-scented, mistletoe-and-fruit-cake filled mess, which Thea insists is something wonderful, but it’s still a mess. Their get-together spills out into the yard, where some of them are quite happily sitting, shivering against the chill and throwing snow around. Those who aren’t playing in the snow are sitting on the stairs, the couch, the floor, folding their legs up or kicking each other over.

Barry thought everyone from Star was too grumpy to be so playful, but Thea and Laurel keep taunting Patty and then Thea’s off, up and down the stairs, Patty close behind, and Laurel keeps yelling _duck, Thea, she's behind you ohmygod don’t trip!_ She’s Speedy all right. Felicity is professionally ignoring the chase in favour of curling up with Caitlin, Iris, and Linda, the four of them chattering excitedly about each and every thing and Cisco is very willing to shout his opinion from the yard—Diggle always reminds him of their ongoing snowball war and isn’t that great?

Everyone here is an overgrown child. Everyone except Oliver.

Oliver is still sulky compared to all the glitter and cheer, but that could be due to both sides of the ongoing snowball war deciding ‘it’ll be so much fun to randomly attack Oliver!’ Randomly in the scientific sense; they’ll throw snowballs at each other at full speed, and they’ll throw snowballs at him even quicker, just like that, for absolutely no reason aside from the fact that he’s just sitting there. They tried the same with Barry but decided he’s no fun (because he catches and returns all of them with interest).

Out of the goodness of his heart, Barry catches a snowball aimed at Oliver’s (beautiful) face and throws it right back at Roy who gives him the most offended look he can manage after the mortifying shriek he let out.

The scowl slides right off Oliver’s face and he scoots over, wrapping a cold arm around Barry’s shoulders when he makes himself as comfortable as he can be sitting in the snow beside Oliver. Barry briefly wonders if Oliver simply enjoys suffering in the cold at this point. “Thought you were Roy’s favourite?”

“Maybe I was,” Oliver replies after subtly glaring in Roy’s direction, “but there was a time I made him break up with Thea. This may be vengeance.”

“Ouch.”

“It was a very complicated time.”

Barry scoffs and nudges Oliver with his shoulder, “Things are always complicated with you guys.”

Oliver drags a sigh up out of his chest as though he’s accepting a challenge he’s already won and says, “You wanna school me on quantum entanglement or Newton’s bucket next?”

“Those are not complicated,” Barry starts, sitting up straight and returning another snowball, perfectly hitting Cisco’s forehead. Oliver quirks a brow. “It’s just a matter of understanding.”

“Potayto, potahto.”

Barry blinks with purpose, he has to make sure he’s actually talking to Oliver, his Oliver, which he is. “I can’t believe _you_ just dismissed me with that.”

Oliver leans into the small, cold space between them and their breaths mingle and float up in warm, little puffs. “I’m facing down listening to what may be hours of my boyfriend talking nonstop about concepts I don’t want to understand. Again. So: potayto, potahto.”

Maybe Barry does get a little carried away, but it’s Oliver so it’s totally fine. Though he does get that dazed look on his face, then he’ll slip off the bed, and Barry will get distracted enough to stop—maybe those were hints. Not that Barry will ever truly be stopped. First thing tomorrow Barry is going to tell Oliver all about quantum entanglement in great detail. “That’s not a nice thing to say to your boyfriend on Christmas.”

Two snowballs fly at them and Barry wonders when they’ll give up. Joe threw them, but Barry hit Ray and Diggle instead; they’re not happy about it.

“My hero,” Oliver drawls.

“That’s so much better.”

Suddenly there’s a hand on Oliver’s head, dusting some of the snow off, and Barry looks up to find Thea smiling down at them. “So this is where you ran off to, Ollie? To cuddle in the snow with your boyfriend.”

“No, I came here to get hit with snowballs, and I’ve been very successful until he showed up.”

She laughs. “That explains the snow on your head.”

“Hey,” Barry interrupts, looking at Thea’s slight flush, “weren’t you running from Patty a while ago?”

She nods, looking very proud of herself, “Mhm, I was.”

And Oliver asks, “Did she catch you?”

“Of course she didn’t!”

“That’s my Speedy.”

Thea lights up like the Christmas tree Joe and Iris have inside, the one Felicity keeps staring dreamily at, the one Caitlin wants to touch, but she’s worried she’ll knock off the decorations. “I’m gonna leave you two lovebirds alone. Let you continue freezing together.” She grins and Oliver grins, too. Then she scoops some snow into her hand, running into the middle of the ongoing war and throwing a snowball right at Roy, who’s too shocked to retaliate and gets hit with three more.

“I see where you get your skill from,” Barry quips.

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s how it works.” Oliver rolls his eyes and Barry thinks it’s absolutely hilarious, it took Oliver this long to do it, so he grabs Oliver’s face and kisses him on the mouth. Barry’s a little surprised that Oliver’s lips are so cold, but the inside of his mouth is so warm and welcoming as though there’s a fire keeping Oliver warm from the inside and that’s why he’s sitting in the snow, content.

Barry lets Oliver go and all the biting remarks Oliver had are gone, as though he’s completely forgotten what they were on about. He smiles wide, reaches up to hold Oliver’s cold hand in his own, which is now just as cold thanks to sitting out in the snow with Oliver, and says, “How about we spend the rest of Christmas inside? Where it’s warm and we’re not freezing to death.”

“I thought I told you—”

“Yeah, sure, but _I_ get cold, Oliver. Me.” Barry gets up, dusts off as much snow as he can, and Oliver follows suit, though he’s making his vaguely annoyed face, the one that means he doesn’t appreciate the change of plans. “Let’s go inside. For me?”

“Okay, fine.” It’s funny, how easily Oliver gives in when it’s for the people he cares about. He’s really just a big sap and Barry tells him as much. “I’m not a sap. I’m just not going to let you freeze to death.”

“Whatever you say, Ollie.”

Oliver kisses him and Barry feels much further away from freezing, but he still tugs Oliver inside, and everyone shifts around just enough so they can sit beside the tree. Mostly everyone shifts, Patty remains unmoving, sprawled along the couch on top of Caitlin and Iris; Barry’s sure chasing Thea drained all her energy, but Caitlin’s too busy playing with her hair and Iris is too amused to care.

Sitting beside the Christmas tree may not have been the best idea because Oliver takes to poking idly at some decorations. Barry’s only surprised because Oliver doesn’t seem like the type to poke decorations, but he doesn’t seem like the vigilante type either. “Barry, I didn’t quite say it for the day yet, but—”

“Merry Christmas to you, too.”

“I was going to say I love you, but.” Barry’s grin just widens and Oliver doesn’t know what to say or what to do with himself. “Yeah, Merry Christmas, too.”


End file.
